New research from the National Literacy Trust shows that children’s interest in writing has reached a “crisis point”, with the charity saying an “alarmingly low” level of children and young people enjoy writing.
In a survey conducted by the trust across the UK, just a third (34.6%) of young people aged eight to 18 said that they enjoy writing in their free time. Although three in four children starting school said that they enjoyed writing, this dropped to one in four by the age of 16.
The Children’s and young people’s writing in 2023 report is drawn from more than 70,000 responses from children to the charity’s annual literacy survey, which provides data on children’s activity, attitudes and enjoyment.
The number of children who said they enjoy writing in their free time has dropped by 12.2% in the 13 years since the NLT started collecting data, said the report, despite the fact that children and young people reported to researchers that they write to improve their mental wellbeing, for social connections and to support causes and issues they care about, as well as to promote creativity, imagination and self-expression.
“The decline in writing engagement should therefore be a cause for concern,” said the NLT’s report.
